UNITED NATIONS, June 16 (UPI) -- A Russian veto on the U.N. Security Council blocked the renewal for a U.N. observer mission in Georgia.
"The secretary-general regrets that the Security Council has been unable to reach agreement on the basis of a package of practical and realistic proposals he submitted to the Security Council aimed at contributing to a stabilization of the situation on the ground," a statement by a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
The U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia came into force in 1993 to monitor cease-fire agreements between Georgia and separatists in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Vitaly Churkin, the Russian envoy to the United Nations, said the decision to block the mandate was based on new security situations on the ground.
"There's no sense in extending it since it's built on old realities," he said.
Russia and Georgia fought a bitter, but brief, war in 2008 as Georgian forces launched attacks on the separatist republic of South Ossetia, spilling over to engulf Abkhazian forces. UNOMIG has no responsibility in South Ossetia, however.
Ban had stressed that UNOMIG was needed to ensure stability in the region, pointing to its role in providing security to the local population.
China, Libya, Uganda and Vietnam abstained from the vote. The UNOMIG mandate expired at midnight.
